CCPO Director Joel Doria (CDN FILE PHOTO)
Keep off the streets.
The Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) has started warning “tambays” or “bystanders” to stay at home at night or they will be rounded up.
Senior Supt. Joel Doria, director of CCPO, said operatives in all 11 police stations in the city have gathered at least 145 persons who were wandering around the streets late at night since Tuesday.
They were, however, immediately released after they were informed about the nationwide crackdown against tambays.
“In Cebu City, what we are doing now is to warn and inform people in the streets about what we are going to implement. By the time we finish the operation plan, we will launch the Oplan Tambay (Tantangon Ang Mga abusado, Badlongon sa katilingban, Apil na ang mga Yawan-ong buhat),” said Doria in an interview on Thursday.
He said the stricter crackdown against tambays is in compliance with the directives of President Rodrigo Duterte and Philippine National Police chief Director General Oscar Albayalde.
Doria said Cebu City’s Oplan Tambay may be launched next week.
“We do this to keep Cebu City safe. As they say ‘Sa ikauunlad ng bayan, disiplina ang kailangan” (For a nation to progress, discipline is needed),” he said.
Doria clarified that there was nothing new in the crackdown as policemen have already been arresting those who violate any local ordinances such as vagrancy, drinking and smoking in public places, jeepney dispatching, vandalizing, and noise pollution from videoke or karaoke machines.
“We’re reviewing all city ordinances now. We do this so that we would have the legal basis in arresting people during the implementation of the Oplan Tambay,” he said.
Doria nonetheless assured the public that policemen won’t violate human rights in carrying out their mandate.
“Respect for human rights is always paramount. And we invite the CHR (Commission on Human Rights) to accompany us during the implementation of the Oplan Tambay to make sure police are doing things within our mandate,” he said.
Among those who will help the police in implementing the Oplan Tambay are barangay tanods and other force multipliers commissioned by authorities.
Those who will be rounded up, Doria said, will undergo profiling by the police to find out whether or not they have existing arrest warrants.
The police will also coordinate with the Department of Social Welfare Development to help find shelters for street dwellers and those sleeping along the roads at night.
Doria appealed parents to help the police in reminding young people to avoid staying on the streets at night.
“Through this Oplan Tambay, we expect the crime volume to really do down,” he said.
In a speech last week, President Duterte ordered authorities to be strict with tambays who he said are “potential trouble for the public.”
The country’s most powerful person instructed the police to bring to Malacañang those who refuse to heed his order and would remain loitering in the streets at night time, and he would throw them into the Pasig River.
President Duterte’s remarks drew criticisms from various groups and lawmakers, saying this was a prelude to a martial law.